The Office of State Ethics promotes integrity in government by providing legal advice, guidance and education to public officials, state employees and lobbyists; by sensibly interpreting and, when necessary, fairly and impartially enforcing applicable laws; by administering the lobbyist and financial disclosure filing systems; and by providing the public with access to non-exempt information.

Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board

The Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board (CEAB, or Board) is a nine-member Board. The members are appointed by the Governor and legislative leaders for staggered, non-renewable, four-year terms.

The Legal Division provides advice and opinions regarding the Codes of Ethics to the regulated community, which includes approximately 45,000 public officials and state employees, nearly 2,000 lobbyists, and all state contractors. The Division consists of a General Counsel, who also serves as counsel to the CEAB, a Deputy General Counsel, an Associate General Counsel and a Paralegal.

The Enforcement Division investigates and prosecutes violations of the Codes of Ethics. The Division consists of an Ethics Enforcement Officer, one Deputy Ethics Enforcement Officer, one Assistant Ethics Enforcement Officer, a Legal Investigator, and a Paralegal.

Audits

The Enforcement Division performs audits of lobbyist filings, as required by statute, and performs analyses of lobbyist and public official filings incident to its enforcement function.

The Office of State Ethics is also statutorily obligated to receive, process, and maintain records of all lobbyist filings along with public official and state employee Statements of Financial Interests (SFIs).

Education and Training activities are performed by the Director of Education. The education component of the Office of State Ethics is often the most visible aspect of the agency’s work to public officials, state employees and the public. In 2014, we launched our Top Ten Ethics Rules
training format and conducted over 120 trainings to approximately 2500
individuals. This initiative allowed us
to triple the number of face-to-face trainings that were conducted in 2012 and
2013. We also conduct in-person training
for the lobbyist community and state contractors upon request.

The Office of State Ethics does not have jurisdiction over municipal or local ethics issues. We do, however, offer the following resource for those municipalities interested in strengthening their own ethics commissions or policies.